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„-"•• 


2* 


\  .-TV., 


X 


, 


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ipssfcfc^ja*     *.\ 


.  C~. 


MOTHER 


V  \:/-:  ./ 

•   "f  »  k 


"  7  'Bate  Wat  Romans  "  (p. 73) 


/ 


• 


MOTHER. 

OWEN  WISTI-IC 

f  '"I'hcVlnslnian 


tllutti 

T)ccorot['onj  In 
JOHN  FJAfi 


DODD.MEAD^  COMPANY 
1907 


. 


COPYRIGHT,    1901, 

BY  SMALL,    MAYNARD  &   COMPANY 

(INCORPORATED) 

COPYRIGHT,    1907, 
BY   Donn,    MEAD   AND  COMPANY 

Published,   October,  1907 


TO 

MY  FAVOURITE  BROKER 

WITH  THE  EARNEST  ASSURANCE 

THAT  MR.   BEVERLY  IS    NOT    MEANT    FOR 

HIM 


NOTE 

IN  1901,  this  story  appeared  anony 
mously  as  the  ninth  of  a  sequence 
of  short  stories  by  various  authors, 
in  a  volume  entitled  A  House  Party. 
It  has  been  slightly  remodelled  for 
separate  publication. 

June  7,  1907  °WEN   WlSTER 


:'<•>  44.J0.8J 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

"c  I  hate  that  woman/  "  (In  color) 

Frontispiece 
(P-  73) 

"I  should  like  to  smash  the  clock" 

Page  23 
(P-  35) 

"  One  of  them  was  fifty-five,  and 
he  still  received  six  hundred 
dollars"  Page  37 

(P.  36) 

"  I  explained  many  other  facts  about 
investments  and  the  stock  mar 
ket  to  her."  (In  color)  Page  49 

(P-  58) 

"You  and  Ethel  were  engaged  be 
fore  the  ferryboat  landed  at 
Desbrosses  Street"  Page  63 

(P-  44) 

"  We  paused  before  brown  old  head 
stones  with  Beverly  upon  them." 
(In  color)  Page  77 

(p.  88) 

"He  then  ran  the  tape  from  the 
ticker  through  his  clean,  strong 
hands"  Page  89 

(P-  62) 


400-ioe j.;.i« i  4&  fee.;. 


MOTHER 


MOTHER 


HEN  handsome  young 
Richard  Field — he  was 
very  handsome  and 
very  young — announced  to 
our  assembled  company 
that  if  his  turn  should  really 
come  to  tell  us  a  story,  the  story 
should  be  no  invention  of  his  fancy, 
but  a  page  of  truth,  a  chapter  from 
his  own  life,  in  which  himself  was 
the  hero  and  a  lovely,  innocent 
girl  was  the  heroine,  his  wife  at 
once  looked  extremely  uncomfort 
able.  She  changed  the  reclining 
position  in  which  she  had  been 
leaning  back  in  her  chair,  and  she 
sat  erect,  with  a  hand  closed  upon 
each  arm  of  the  chair. 
"Richard,"  she  said,  "do  you 


400  .tool.;.  ioi 


WA.CT       i     .l«h. 
V't  4S.JO.M 


fit,  t  CNW*,        T« 

4oo.«i    M.i.wt          »T,     t, 


MOTHER 

think  that  it  is  right  of  you  to  tell 
any  one,  even  friends,  anything  that 
you  have  never  yet  confessed  to 
me?" 

"Ethel,"  replied  Richard,  "al 
though  I  cannot  promise  that  you 
will  be  entirely  proud  of  my  con 
duct  when  you  have  heard  this 
episode  of  my  past,  I  do  say  that 
there  is  nothing  in  it  to  hurt  the 
trust  you  have  placed  in  me  since 
I  have  been  your  husband.  Only," 
he  added,  "I  hope  that  I  shall  not 
have  to  tell  any  story  at  all." 

"Oh,  yes  you  will!"  we  all  ex 
claimed  together;  and  the  men 
looked  eager  while  the  women 
sighed. 

The  rest  of  us  were  much  older 
than  Richard,  we  were  middle- 
aged,  in  fact;  and  human  nature  is 
so  constructed,  that  when  it  is  at 


4s  w.; 


eo.fr. ; 


«oo.«»t    SS.i.w» 


MOTHER 

the  age  when  making  love  keeps  it 
busy,  it  does  not  care  so  much  to 
listen  to  tales  of  others'  love-mak 
ing;  but  the  more  it  recedes  from 
that  period  of  exuberance,  and 
ceases  to  have  love  adventures  of  its 
own,  the  greater  become  its  hunger 
and  thirst  to  hear  about  this  de 
licious  business  which  it  can  no 
longer  personally  practise  with  the 
fluency  of  yore.  It  was  for  this 
reason  that  we  all  yearned  in  our 
middle-aged  way  for  the  tale  of  love 
which  we  expected  from  young 
Richard.  He,  on  his  part,  repeated 
the  hope  that  by  the  time  his  turn 
to  tell  a  story  was  reached  we  should 
be  tired  of  stories  and  prefer  to 
spend  the  evening  at  the  card  tables 
or  in  the  music  room. 
We  were  a  house  party,  no  brief 
"  week-end  "  affair,  but  a  gathering 


400.ioeM.Mi 


L 


4j.so.ej 


MOTHER 

whose  period  for  most  of  the  guests 
covered  a  generous  and  leisurely 
ten  days,  with  enough  departures 
and  arrivals  to  give  that  variety 
which  is  necessary  among  even  the 
most  entertaining  and  agreeable 
people.  Our  skilful  hostess  had 
assembled  us  in  the  country,  be 
neath  a  roof  of  New  York  luxury, 
a  luxury  which  has  come  in  these 
later  days  to  be  so  much  more  than 
princely.  By  day,  the  grounds 
afforded  us  both  golf  and  tennis, 
the  stables  provided  motor  cars  and 
horses  to  ride  or  drive  over  admi 
rable  roads,  through  beautiful  scen 
ery  that  was  embellished  by  a 
magnificent  autumn  season.  At 
nightfall,  the  great  house  itself  re 
ceived  us  in  the  arms  of  supreme 
comfort,  fed  us  sumptuously,  and 
after  dinner  ministered  to  our 


400.WQM.MI 


4s  to.; 


[  j^ 
A  1U 


CCV       IE.F 

L          86         Hi; 


MOTHER 

middle-aged  bodies  with  chairs  and 
sofas  of  the  highest  development. 

The  plan  devised  by  our  hostess, 
Mrs.  Davenport,  that  a  story  should 
be  told  by  one  of  us  each  evening, 
had  met  with  courtesy,  but  not 
with  immediate  enthusiasm.  But 
Mrs.  Davenport  had  chosen  her 
guests  with  her  usual  wisdom,  and 
after  the  first  experiment,  story  tell 
ing  proved  so  successful  that  none 
of  us  would  have  readily  abandoned 
it.  When  the  time  had  come  for 
Richard  Field  to  entertain  the  com 
pany  with  the  promised  tale  from 
his  life  experience,  his  hope  of  es 
caping  this  ordeal  had  altogether 
vanished. 

Mrs.  Field,  it  had  been  noticed  as 
early  as  breakfast  time,  was  inclined 
to  be  nervous  on  her  husband's 
account.  Five  years  of  married  life 


«....** 


'* 


,H 

_   . 


MOTHER 

had  not  cured  her  of  this  amiable 
symptom,  and  she  made  but  a  light 
meal.  He,  on  the  other  hand,  ate 
heartily  and  without  signs  of  dis 
turbance.  Apparently  he  was  not 
even  conscious  of  the  glances  that 
his  wife  so  frequently  stole  at 
him. 

"  Do  at  least  have  some  omelet, 
my  dear/5  whispered  Mrs.  Daven 
port  urgently.  "It's  quite  light/' 

But  Mrs.  Field  could  summon  no 
appetite. 

"I  see  you  are  anxious  about 
him/'  Mrs.  Davenport  continued 
after  breakfast.  "You  are  surely 
not  afraid  his  story  will  fail  to 
interest  us?" 

"No,  it  is  not  that." 

"It  can't  be  that  he  has  given  up 
the  one  he  expected  to  tell  us  and 
can  think  of  no  other?" 


4oo.io0|.;. 


4s  w.'. 


O        J?6  60.MT 

.;V   10  /   500.111        eo.fr.i      t 

^V  - 


I096.1M     «CC.*7l    JXIJ9T 


MOTHER 
Oh,  no;  he  is  going  to  tell  that 


"And  you  don't  like  his  choice?" 
"He  won't  tell  me  what  it  is!" 
Mrs.    Davenport    put    down    her 
embroidery.      "Then,  Ethel,"   she 
said    with    severity,    "the    fault   is 
yours.      When    I     had     been     five 
years  married,  Mr.  Davenport  con 
fided  everything  to  me." 
"So  does  Richard.     Except  when 
I  particularly  ask  him." 
"There  it  is,  Ethel.    You  let  him 
see  that  you  want  to  know." 
"But  I  do  want  to  know.      Rich 
ard    has    had   such   interesting  ex 
periences,  so  many  of  them.      And 
I   do  so  want  him  to  tell  a   thor 
oughly  nice  one.      There's  the  one 
when  he  saved  a  man  from  drown 
ing  just  below  our  house,  the  sec 
ond  summer,  and  the  man  turned 


«....'** 


T  rk 
1  9 


MOTHER 

out  to  be  a  burglar  and  broke  into 
the  pantry  that  very  night,  and 
Richard  caught  him  in  the  dark 
with  just  as  much  courage  as  he 
had  caught  him  in  the  water  and 
just  as  few  clothes,  only  it  was  so 
different.  Richard  makes  it  quite 
thrilling.  And  I  mentioned  an 
other  to  him.  But  he  just  went 
on  shaving.  And  now  he  has 
gone  out  walking,  and  I  believe 
it's  going  to  be  something  I  would 
rather  not  hear.  But  I  mean  to 
hear  it." 

At  lunch  Mrs.  Field  made  a 
better  meal,  although  it  was  clear 
to  Mrs.  Davenport  that  Richard 
on  returning  from  his  walk  had 
still  kept  his  intentions  from  Ethel. 

"  She  does  not  manage  him  in 
the  least,"  Mrs.  Davenport  de 
clared  to  the  other  ladies,  as  Ethel 


•o.fc.i     K    « 


.»;•%• 


MOTHER 

and  Richard  started  for  an  after 
noon  drive  together.  "She  will 
not  know  anything  more  when  she 
brings  him  back." 

But  in  this  Mrs.  Davenport  did 
wrong  to  Ethel's  resources.  The 
young  wife  did  know  something 
more  when  she  brought  her  hus 
band  back  from  their  drive  through 
the  pleasant  country.  They  re 
turned  looking  like  an  engaged 
couple,  rather  than  parents  whose 
nursery  was  already  a  song  of  three 
little  voices. 

"He  has  told  her,"  thought  Mrs. 
Davenport  at  the  first  sight  of 
them,  as  they  entered  the  drawing- 
room  for  an  afternoon  tea.  "She 
does  understand  some  things." 

And  when  after  dinner  the  ladies 
had  withdrawn  to  the  library,  and 
waited  for  the  men  to  finish  their 


MOTHER 

cigars,  Mrs.  Davenport  spoke  to 
Ethel.  "My  dear,  I  congratulate 
you.  I  saw  it  at  once." 

"But  he  hasn't.  Richard  hasn't 
told  me  anything." 

"Ethel!  Then  what  is  the  mat 
ter?" 

"I  told  him  something.  I  told 
him  that  if  it  was  going  to  be  any 
story  about — about  something  I 
shouldn't  like,  I  should  simply 
follow  it  with  a  story  about  him 
that  he  wouldn't  like." 

"Ethel!     You  darling!" 

"  Oh,  yes,  and  I  said  I  was  sure  you 
would  all  listen,  even  though  I  was 
not  an  author  myself.  And  I  have 
it  ready,  you  know,  and  it's  awfully 
like  Richard,  only  a  different  side 
of  him  from  the  burglar  one." 

"But,  my  dear,  what  did  he  do 
when  you — " 


[     22     r°         «°.MT 
.;.;V          /    500. IM        eo.fr.v      s 


JPHM    ft  A 


to 


400.47} 


MOTHER 

This  enquiry  was,  however,  cut 
short  by  the  entrance  of  the  men. 
And  from  the  glance  that  came 
from  Richard's  eyes  as  they  im 
mediately  sought  out  his  wife,  Mrs. 
Davenport  knew  that  he  could  not 
have  done  anything  very  severe  to 
Ethel  when  she  made  that  threat 
to  him  during  their  drive. 

Richard  at  once  made  his  way  to 
the  easy-chair  arranged  each  night 
in  a  good  position  for  the  narrator 
of  the  evening,  and  baptised  "  The 
Singstool"  by  Mr.  Graves.  Mr. 
Graves  was  an  ardent  Wagnerian, 
and  especially  devoted  to  The  Mas- 
fersmgers  of  Nuremburg. 

"Shall  we  have/'  he  whispered  to 
Mr.  Hillard,  "a  Beckmesser  fiasco 
to-night,  or  will  it  be  a  Walter 
success?" 

But  Mr.  Hillard,  besides  being  an 


BO.HT  ccr      i 

500.11.  80.fr.  i         9C 


4oo.«l   «.'•"» 


MOTHER 

author  and  a  critic,  cared  little 
for  the  too  literary  cleverness  of 
Mr.  Graves.  He  therefore  heavily 
crushed  that  gentleman's  allusion 
to  Wagner's  opera.  "  I  remember," 
he  said,  "the  singing  contest  be 
tween  Beckmesser  and  Walter,  and 
I  doubt  if  we  are  to  be  afflicted 
with  anything  so  dull  in  this 
house." 

Richard  had  settled  himself  in  the 
easy-chair,  and  was  looking  thought 
fully  at  various  objects  in  the  room, 
while  the  small-talk  was  subsiding 
around  him. 

"Why,  Mr.  Field,"  said  Mrs. 
Davenport,  "you  look  as  if  you 
could  find  nothing  to  suggest  your 
story  to  you." 

"On  the  contrary,"  said  Richard, 
"it  is  the  number  of  things  that 
suggest  it.  This  newspaper  here, 


4s  to.;.; 


eo.fr 


CCF        f.f 

L         9C        I 


MOTHER 

that  has  arrived  since  I  was  last  in 
the  room,  has  a  column  which 
reminds  me  very  forcibly  of  the 
experience  that  I  have  selected  to 
tell  you.  But  I  think  the  most 
appropriate  of  all  is  that  picture." 
He  pointed  to  the  largest  picture 
on  the  wall.  "'Breaking  Home 
Ties'  is  its  title,  I  remember  very 
well.  It  is  a  replica  of  the  original 
that  drew  such  crowds  in  the  Art 
Building  at  the  World's  Fair." 

While  Richard  was  saying  this, 
his  wife  had  possessed  herself  of  the 
newspaper,  and  he  now  observed 
how  eagerly  she  was  scanning  its 
pages.  "  It  is  the  financial  column, 
Ethel,  that  recalls  my  story." 

Ethel,  after  a  hopeless  glance  at 
this,  resumed  her  seat  near  the  sofa 
by  Mrs.  Davenport. 

"There    were     many    paintings, 


4S  bO. ',.<,. 


WA.CT  «& 

Vi  4S.J0.8I        * 


MOTHER 

continued  Richard,  "in  that  Art 
Building,  of  merit  incomparably 
greater  than  'Breaking  Home 
Ties';  and  yet  the  crowd  never 
looked  at  those,  because  it  did  not 
understand  them.  But  at  any  hour 
of  the  day,  if  you  happened  to 
pass  this  picture,  it  took  you  some 
time  to  do  so.  You  could  pass  any 
of  John  Sargeant's  pictures,  for 
instance,  at  a  speed  limited  only  by 
your  own  powers  of  running ;  but 
you  could  never  run  past  'Breaking 
Home  Ties/  You  had  to  work 
your  way  through  the  crowd  in 
front  of  that  just  as  you  have  to 
do  at  a  fire,  or  a  news  office  during 
a  football  game.  The  American 
people  could  never  get  enough  of 
that  mother  kissing  her  boy  good 
bye,  while  the  wagon  waits  at  the 
open  door  to  take  him  away  from 


400.100!.;. 


KO  BO.MT 

J  s°o-'"     *°-*-*    *_.  "ii: 


MOTHER 

her  upon  his  first  journey  into  the 
world.  The  idea  held  a  daily 
pathos  for  them.  Many  had  them 
selves  been  through  such  leave 
takings;  and  no  word  so  stirs  the 
general  heart  as  the  word  '  mother/ 
Song  writers  know  this;  and  the 
artist  knew  it  when  he  decided  to 
paint  'Breaking  Home  Ties/  And 
< MOTHER'  is  the  title  of  my 
story  to-night/' 

"'Mother!'"  This  was  Ethel's  be 
wildered  echo,  "Whose  Mother?" 
she  softly  murmured  to  herself. 

Richard  continued.  "It  con 
cerns  the  circumstances  under 
which  I  became  engaged  to  my 
wife/' 

There  was  a  movement  from 
Ethel  as  she  sat  by  the  sofa. 

"Not  all  the  circumstances,  of 
course,"  the  narrator  continued, 


i          20       £ "O.MT 

4Sfcc.-..\       yy    soo.ii.         fta.k.ii       a 


MOTHER 

with  a  certain  guarded  candour  in 
his  tone.  "There  are  certain  cir 
cumstances  which  naturally  attend 
every  engagement  between  happy 
and — and  devoted — young  people, 
that  they  keep  to  themselves  quite 
carefully,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
any  one  who  has  been  through  the 
experience  of  being  engaged  two 
or  three  times- 
There  was  another  movement  from 
Ethel  by  the  sofa. 
" — or  even  only  once,  as  is  my 
case/'  the  narrator  went  on,  "any 
body,  I  say,  who  has  been  through 
the  experience  of  being  engaged 
only  once,  can  form  a  very  correct 
idea  of  the  circumstances  that  at 
tend  the  happy  engagements  of  all 
young  people.  I  imagine  they 
prevail  in  all  countries,  just  as  the 
feeling  about  ' mother'  prevails. 


•     *2O      F*  BO.HT  ccr     is.r 

4i  w-nV          /  goo.tn        eo.fr. !,      »t      ">^ 

— 


MOTHER 

Yes,  '  Mother '  is  the  right  title  for 
my  story,  as  you  shall  see.  Is  it 
not  strange  that  if  you  add  'in-law' 
to  the  word  '  mother/  how  im 
mediately  the  sentiment  of  the 
term  is  altered? — as  strongly  indeed 
as  when  you  prefix  the  word  'step' 
to  it.  But  it  is  with  neither  of 
these  composite  forms  of  mother 
that  my  story  deals. 

"  Ethel  has  always  maintained 
that  if  I  had  really  understood  her, 
it  never  would  have  happened.  She 
says — " 

"Richard,  I"— 

"My  dear,  you  shall  tell  your 
story  afterwards,  and  I  promise  to 
listen  without  a  word  until  you  are 
finished.  Mrs.  Field  says  that  if  I 
had  understood  her  nature  as  a  man 
ought  to  understand  the  girl  he  has 
been  thinking  about  for  several 


Jo.fr.V 


',"»4.> 


4S.IO.C1       iZj-i-i     looo.r 


MOTHER 

years,  I  should  have  known  she 
cared  nothing  about  my  income. 

"I  didn't  care  !  I'd  have" — but 
Mrs.  Field  checked  her  outburst. 

"She  was  going  to  say,"  said 
Mr.  Field,  "that  had  I  asked  her 
to  marry  me  when  I  became  sure 
that  I  wished  to  marry  her,  she 
would  have  been  willing  to  leave 
New  York  and  go  to  the  waste  land 
in  Michigan  that  was  her  inheri 
tance  from  a  grandfather,  and  there 
build  a  cabin  and  live  in  it  with 
me;  and  that  while  I  shot  prairie 
chickens  for  dinner  she  would  have 
milked  the  cow  which  some  mem 
ber  of  the  family  would  have  been 
willing  to  give  us  as  a  wedding 
present  instead  of  a  statue  of  the 
Winged  Victory,  or  silver  spoons 
and  forks,  had  we  so  desired." 

Richard  made  a  pause  here,  and 


BO.MT  CCF       It.f 

i        eo.fr.i      96      I 


WA.CT  SfB. 

.  +S.JO.W       * 


*OC.47i    **.!.««»  l>7'_Ci 


MOTHER 

looked  at  his  wife  as  if  he  ex 
pected  her  to  correct  him.  But 
Ethel  was  plainly  satisfied  with  his 
statement,  and  he  therefore  con 
tinued. 

"  I  think  it  is  ideal  when  a  girl  is 
ready  to  do  so  much  as  that  for  a 
man.  But  I  should  not  think  it 
ideal  in  a  man  to  allow  the  girl  he 
loved  to  do  it  for  him.  Nor  did  I 
then  know  anything  about  the  lands 
in  Michigan — though  this  would 
have  made  no  difference.  Ethel 
had  been  accustomed  to  a  house 
several  stories  high,  with  hot  and 
cold  water  in  most  of  them,  and 
somebody  to  answer  the  door-bell. " 

"The  door-bell!"  exclaimed  Ethel. 
"I  could  have  gone  without  hear 
ing  that." 

"Yes,  Ethel,  only  to  hear  the  wel 
kin  ring  would  have  been  enough 


400.100 


I.;.!..*""      4s  w.;.J^  33    /" 


eo.nT  cc*    i 

roo.nt        eo.fr. ;      se 


45.JO.Oi 


MOTHER 

for  you.  I  know  that  you  are  sin 
cere  in  thinking  so.  And  the  ring 
ing  welkin  is  all  we  should  have 
heard  in  Michigan.  But  the  more 
truly  a  man  loves  a  girl,  the  less 
can  he  bear  taking  her  from  an  easy 
to  a  hard  life.  I  am  sure  that  all 
the  men  here  agree  with  me." 

There  was  a  murmur  and  a  nod 
from  the  men,  and  also  from  Mrs. 
Davenport.  But  the  other  ladies 
gave  no  sign  of  assenting  to  Rich 
ard's  proposition. 

"In  those  days/'  said  he,  "I  was 
what  in  the  curt  parlance  of  the 
street  is  termed  a  six-hundred-dollar 
clerk.  And  though  my  ears  had 
grown  accustomed  to  this  appella 
tion,  I  never  came  to  feel  that  it 
completely  described  me.  In  pass 
ing  Tiffany's  window  twice  each 
day  (for  my  habit  was  to  walk  to 


4oo.iooj.;.i 


4s  fco.;. 


5    CM       F* BO.MT  ccf     re. 

vy     / g00-'"      eo-t^     9<t 


MOTHER 

and  from  Nassau  Street)  I  remember 
that  seeing  a  thousand-dollar  clock 
exposed  for  sale  caused  me  annoy 
ance.  Of  course  my  salary  as  a 
clerk  brought  me  into  no  unfavour 
able  comparison  with  the  clock; 
and  I  doubt  if  I  could  make  you 
understand  my  sometimes  feeling 
when  I  passed  Tiffany's  window 
that  I  should  like  to  smash  jthe 
clock. 

"  I  met  Ethel  frequently  in  society, 
dancing  with  her,  and  sitting  next 
her  at  dinners.  And  by  the  time 
I  had  dined  at  her  own  house,  and 
walked  several  afternoons  with  her, 
my  lot  as  a  six-hundred-dollar  clerk 
began  to  seem  very  sad  to  me.  I 
wrote  verses  about  it,  and  about 
other  subjects  also.  From  an  even 
ing  passed  with  Ethel,  I  would  go 
next  morning  to  the  office  and  look 


"  \       -7C    p"~" 

4co.iooj.;.i»i  4s  fco.;.;V    ****  J   soa. m 

^~\^ 


BO.HT  CCF        It.F 

..i         96        I 


MOTHER 

at  the  other  clerks.  One  of  them 
was  fifty-five,  and  he  still  received 
six  hundred  dollars — his  wages  for 
the  last  thirty  years.  I  was  then 
twenty-one;  and  though  I  never 
despaired  to  the  extent  of  believing 
that  years  would  fail  to  increase  my 
value  to  the  firm  by  a  single  cent, 
still,  for  what  could  I  hope?  If 
my  salary  were  there  and  then  to 
be  doubled,  what  kind  of  support 
was  twelve  hundred  dollars  to  offer 
Ethel,  with  her  dresses,  and  her 
dinners,  and  her  father's  carriage? 
For  two  years  I  was  wretchedly  un 
happy  beneath  the  many  hours  of 
gaiety  that  came  to  me,  as  to  every 
young  man." 

"Those  two  years  we  could  have 
been  in  Michigan/'  said  Ethel, 
"had  you  understood." 

"I  know.      But  understanding,   I 


44  fco.;. 


L 


o 


ne 


stiCT 


ars 


WA.CT  S£&  I*  US  t  **>"»•        ' 

t  4S.3C.55       ?'-tM-t      I'M..*)     «06.«7l    «.!.»» 


MOTHER 

believe  that  I  should  do  the  same 
again.  At  the  office  when  not 
busy,  I  wrote  more  poetry,  and 
began  also  to  write  prose,  which  I 
found  at  the  outset  less  easy.  When 
my  first  writings  were  accepted 
(they  were  four  sets  of  verses  upon 
the  Summer  Resort)  I  felt  that  I 
could  soon  address  Ethel ;  for  I  had 
made  ten  dollars  outside  my 'salary. 
Had  she  not  been  in  Europe  that 
July,  I  believe  that  I  should  have 
spoken  to  her  at  once.  But  I  sent 
her  the  paper ;  and  I  have  the  letter 
that  she  wrote  in  reply." 

"I" —  began  Ethel.  But  she 
stopped. 

"Yes,  I  know  now  that  you  kept 
the  verses,"  said  Richard.  "My 
next  manuscript,  however,  was  re 
jected.  Indeed,  I  went  on  offer 
ing  my  literary  productions  nearly 


.10=,}.;. 


"VS^V" 

•;.jY         /  500.11 


400.47^  SJ.I.KU 


MOTHER 

every  week  until  the  following 
January  before  a  second  accept 
ance  came.  It  was  twenty-five 
dollars  this  time,  and  almost  made 
me  feel  again  that  I  could  hand 
somely  support  Ethel.  But  not 
quite.  After  the  first  charming 
elation  at  earning  money  with  my 
pen,  those  weeks  of  refusal  had 
caused  me  to  think  more  soberly. 
And  though  I  was  now  bent  upon 
becoming  an  author  and  leaving 
Nassau  Street,  I  burned  no  bridges 
behind  me,  but  merely  filled  my 
spare  hours  with  writing  and  with 
showing  it  to  Ethel. 
"  It  was  now  that  the  second  great 
perturbation  of  my  life  came  to 
me.  I  say  the  second,  because  the 
first  had  been  the  recent  dawning 
belief  that  Ethel  thought  about  me 
when  I  was  not  there  to  remind 


4O  F  «°^ CCP     rc.r 

4&  fco.',.;^    T    £    goo, in         eo.fr. !.       9C       ">^, 


l&jp 


MOTHER 

her  of  myself.  This  idea  had  stirred 
— but  you  will  understand.  And 
now,  what  was  my  proper,  my 
honourable  course?  It  was  a  posi 
tive  relief  that  at  this  crisis  she  went 
to  Florida.  I  could  think  more 
quietly.  My  writing  had  come  to 
be  quite  often  accepted,  sometimes 
even  solicited.  Should  I  speak  to 
her,  and  ask  her  to  wait  until  I  could 
put  a  decent  roof  over  her  head,  or 
should  I  keep  away  from  her  until 
I  could  offer  such  a  roof?  Her 
father,  I  supposed,  could  do  some 
thing  for  us.  But  I  was  not  willing 
to  be  a  pensioner.  His  business — 
were  he  generous — would  be  to  pro 
vide  cake  and  butter ;  but  the  bread 
was  to  be  mine — and  bread  was  still 
a  long  way  off,  according  to  New 
York  standards.  These  things  I 
thought  over  while  she  was  in 


400. 100}. J.I. I 


IkS 


4s  fco-t-i4* 


eo.MT  cc 

eo.fr.  i 


W».CT  6EB'  I*  WC  t  «"W* 

Vt  45.70.62       2JJ.;.;      lOOC.iw     4oc.4»i    SS.i.wt  1374 


MOTHER 

Florida;  yet  when  once  I  should 
find  myself  with  her  again,  I  began 
to  fear  that  I  could  not  hold  myself 
from — but  these  are  circumstances 
which  universal  knowledge  renders 
it  needless  to  mention,  and  I  will 
pass  to  the  second  perturbation. 
"A  sum  of  money  was  suddenly 
left  me.  Then  for  the  first  time  I 
understood  why  I  had  during  my 
boyhood  been  so  periodically  sent 
to  see  a  cross  old  brother  of  my 
mother's,  who  lived  near  Cold 
Spring  on  the  Hudson,  and  whom 
we  called  Uncle  Snaggletooth  when 
no  one  could  hear  us.  Uncle  God 
frey  (for  I  have  called  him  by  his 
right  name  ever  since)  died  and 
left  me  what  in  those  old  days  six 
years  ago  was  still  a  large  amount. 
To-day  we  understand  what  true 
riches  mean.  But  in  those  bygone 


4S  <.e.;.;Y.  42  ^    500.11 


ep.nT  CCP    ie.r 

•eo.fr. j,      9« 


A.CT  sea 

46.JO.C1      2 


MOTHER 

times  six  years  ago,  a  million  dollars 
was  a  sum  considerable  enough 
to  be  still  seen,  as  it  were,  with 
the  naked  eye.  That  was  my  be 
quest  from  Uncle  Godfrey,  and  I 
felt  myself  to  be  the  possessor  of  a 
fortune." 

At  this  point  in  Richard's  narra 
tive,  a  sigh  escaped  from  Ethel. 

"I  know/'  he  immediately  said, 
"that  money  is  always  welcome. 
But  it  is  certainly  some  consolation 
to  reflect  how  slight  a  loss  a  mil 
lion  dollars  is  counted  co-day  in 
New  York.  And  I  did  not  lose  all 
of  it. 

"  I  met  Ethel  at  the  train  on  her 
return  from  Florida,  and  crossed 
with  her  on  the  ferry  from  Jersey 
City  to  Desbrosses  Street.  There 
I  was  obliged  to  see  her  drive  away 
in  the  carriage  with  her  father." 


400.100$. 


(     A.'l     fr« BO.M' 
4S  «*-uVL        A    f00-'"        eo't-1'       9*      "*-L 

" 


MOTHER 

"Mr.    Field,"    said  Mrs.   Daven 
port,  "what    hour    did   that    train 


arrive  at  Jersey  City?" 

Richard  looked  surprised.  "  Why, 
seven-fifteen  p.  M.,"  he  replied. 
"The  tenth  of  March." 

"Dark!"  Mrs.  Davenport  ex 
claimed.  "Mr.  Field,  you  and 
Ethel  were  engaged  before  the 
ferry  boat  landed  at  Desbrosses 
Street." 

Richard  and  Ethel  both  sat  straight 
up,  but  remained  speechless. 

"Pardon  my  interruption,"  said 
Mrs.  Davenport,  smiling.  "I  didn't 
want  to  miss  a  single  point  in  this 
story — do  go  on !" 

Richard  was  obliged  to  burst  out 
laughing,  in  which  Ethel,  after  a 
moment,  followed  him,  though 
perhaps  less  heartily.  And  as  he 
continued,  his  blush  subsided. 


4s  wo.;. 


;  'V44  f  P 


CCP       lE.f 
. V          96         »*•* 


MOTHER 

"With  my  Uncle  Godfrey's  legacy 
I  was  no  longer  dependent  upon 
my  salary,  or  my  pen,  or  my  fa 
ther's  purse ;  and  I  decided  that 
with  the  money  properly  invested, 
I  could  maintain  a  modest  establish 
ment  of  my  own.  Ethel  agreed 
with  me  entirely ;  and,  after  a  little, 
we  disclosed  our  plans  to  our  fami 
lies,  and  they  met  with  approval. 
This  was  in  April,  and  we  thought 
of  October  or  November  for  the 
wedding.  It  seemed  long  to  wait ; 
but  it  came  near  being  so  much 
longer,  that  I  grow  chilly  now  to 
think  of  it. 

"Of  course,  I  went  steadily  on 
with  my  work  at  the  office  in 
Nassau  Street,  nor  did  I  neglect 
my  writing  entirely.  My  attention, 
however,  was  now  turned  to  the 
question  of  investing  my  fortune. 


400.100}.;. 1*1 


4oo.«i    SS.I.WJ  '5TJI 


MOTHER 

Just  round  the  corner  from  our 
office  was  the  firm  of  Blake  and 
Beverly,  Stocks  and  Bonds.  Thither 
my  steps  began  frequently  to  turn. 
Mr.  Beverly  had  business  which 
brought  him  every  week  to  the 
room  of  our  president ;  and  so  hav 
ing  a  sort  of  acquaintance  with 
him,  I  felt  it  easier  to  consult  him 
than  to  seek  any  other  among  the 
brokers,  to  which  class  I  was  a 
well-nigh  total  stranger.  He  very 
kindly  consented  to  be  my  adviser. 
I  was  well  pleased  to  find  how 
much  I  had  underrated  the  interest- 
bearing  capacity  of  my  windfall. 
'Four  per  cent!'  he  cried,  when  I 
told  him  this  was  the  extent  of  my 
expectations.  '  Why,  you're  talking 
like  a  trustee.'  And  then  seeing 
that  his  meaning  was  beyond  me, 
he  explained  in  his  bluff,  humorous 


400.100}. 


vi 


400.47;  5$.i.»» 


MOTHER 

manner.     'All  a  trustee  cares  for, 
you    know,    is   his   reputation    for 


safety.  It's  not  his  own  income  he's 
nursing,  and  so  he  doesn't  care  how 
small  he  makes  it,  provided  only 
that  his  investments  would  be  always 
called  safe.  Now  there  are  ways 
of  being  safe  without  spending  any 
trouble  or  time  upon  it;  and  those 
are  the  ways  a  trustee  will  take. 
For  example/  and  here  he  arose, 
and  unhooking  a  file  of  current 
quotations  from  the  wall,  placed  it 
in  my  lap  as  I  sat  beside  him.  'Now 
here  are  Government  three's  selling 
at  1 08  3-8.  They  are  as  safe  as 
the  United  States;  and  if  I  advised 
you  to  buy  them,  it  would  cost  me 
no  thought,  and  my  character  for 
safety  would  run  no  risk  of  a  blem 
ish.  That  is  the  sort  of  bond  that 
a  trustee  recommends.  But  see 


45  to.; 


LA*]    Po           BO.MT  cc*     (K.r 

/JOO.III     ••••*•*    9C    "51* 
— ^- 


MOTHER 

what  income  it  gives  you.  Roughly 
speaking,  about  twenty-eight  thou 
sand  dollars/ 

That  would  not  do  at  all/  said 
I,  thinking  of  Ethel  and  October. 

"  *  Certainly  not  for  you/  returned 
Mr.  Beverly,  gaily.  If  you  were  a 
timorous  old  maid,  now,  who 
would  really  like  all  her  money  in 
her  stocking  in  gold  pieces,  only 
she's  ashamed  to  say  so !  But  a 
young  fellow  like  you  with  no  re 
sponsibility,  no  wife,  and  butcher's 
bill — it's  quite  another  thing!' 

"< Quite/  said  I,  <oh,  quite!'" 

"  Richard,"  interrupted  Ethel,  "do 
you  have  to  make  yourself  out  so 
simple?" 

"My  dear,  you  forget  that  I  said 
I  should  invent  nothing,  but  should 
keep  myself  to  actual  experiences. 
The  part  of  my  story  that  is  com- 


$00.10,;.}.  i., 


«....'*• 


48    F«          eo.HT 

/goo,  m        *o.t.l 


IC.P 

ec     i.»;-k 


ryents  aptittje  ^tocS 


MOTHER 

ing  now  is  one  where  I  should  be 
very  glad  to  draw  upon  my  im 
agination. 

Mr.  Beverly  now  ran  his  finger 
up  and  down  various  columns. 
'Here  again/  said  he,  'is  a  typical 
trustee  bond,  and  nets  you  a  few 
thousand  dollars  more  at  present 
prices.  New  York  Central  and 
Hudson  River  3  i-2's.  Or  here 
are  West  Shore  4*8  at  1 1 3  5-8.  But 
you  see  it  scales  down  to  pretty 
much  the  same  thing.  The  sort  of 
bond  that  a  trustee  will  call  safe 
does  not  bring  the  owner  more 
than  about  three  and  one-half  per 
cent/ 

"  *  Why,  there  are  some  six  per 
cent  bonds!'  I  said;  and  I  pointed 
them  out  to  him. 

"'Selling  at  137  7-8,  you  see/ 
said  Mr.  Beverly.  'Deducting  the 


4s  to.;.; 


400.0J    SS.I.W7 


MOTHER 

tax,  there  you  are  scaled  down 
again.'  He  pencilled  some  swift 
calculations.  *  There/  said  he.  And 
I  nearly  understood  them.  'Now 
I'm  not  here  to  stop  your  buying 
that  sort  of  petticoat  and  canary- 
bird  wafer/  continued  Mr.  Beverly. 
'It's  the  regular  trustee  move,  and 
nobody  could  criticise  you  if  you 
made  it.  It's  what  I  call  thought 
less  safety,  and  it  brings  you  about 
31-2  per  cent,  as  I  have  already 
shown  you.  Anybody  can  do  it.' 
"These  words  of  Mr.  Beverly 
made  me  feel  that  I  did  not  want 
to  do  what  anybody  could  do. 
'There  is  another  kind  of  safety 
which  I  call  thoughtful  safety/  said 
he.  'Thoughtful,  because  it  re 
quires  you  to  investigate  properties 
and  their  earnings,  and  generally  to 
use  your  independent  judgment  after 


4s  to.;.; 


BO.HT  ce»»     ic.r 

I  GO.fr.i         9«         I 


**.CT 


MOTHER 

a  good  deal  of  work.  And  all  this 
a  trustee  greatly  dislikes.  It  re 
wards  you  with  five  and  even  six 
per  cent,  but  that  is  no  stimulus  to 
a  trustee.' 

"Something  in  me  had  leaped 
when  Mr.  Beverly  mentioned  six 
per  cent.  Again  I  thought  of 
Ethel  and  October,  and  what  a 
difference  it  would  be  to  begin  our 
modest  housekeeping  on  sixty  in 
stead  of  forty  thousand  dollars  a 
year,  outside  of  what  I  was  earning. 

"  Mr.  Beverly  now  rang  a  bell. 
'You  happen  to  have  come/  said 
he,  'on  a  morning  when  I  can 
really  do  something  for  you  out  of 
the  common.  Bring  me  (it  was  a 
clerk  he  addressed)  one  of  those 
Petunia  circulars.  Now  here  you 
can  see  at  a  glance  for  yourself/ 
He  began  reading  the  prospectus 


400  .io,j.  I.MI 


L 


MOTHER 

rapidly  aloud  to  me  while  I  fol 
lowed  its  paragraphs  with  my 
own  eye.  His  strong,  well-polished 
thumb-nail  ran  heavily  but  speedily 
down  the  columns  of  figures  and 
such  words  as  gross  receipts,  increase 
of  population,  sinking  fund,  redeem 
able  at  105  after  1920,  churned 
vigorously  and  meaninglessly 
through  my  brain.  But  I  was  not 
going  to  let  him  know  that  to  under 
stand  the  circular  I  should  have  to 
take  it  away  quietly  to  my  desk  in 
Nassau  Street,  and  spend  an  hour 
with  it  alone. 

" '  What  is  your  opinion  of  Petu 
nia  Water  sixes?'  he  inquired. 

"'They  are  a  lead-pipe  cinch/  I 
immediately  answered  ;  and  he 
slapped  me  on  the  knee. 

"'That's  what  I  think!'  he 
cried.  'Anyhow,  I  have  taken 


4S  *••'•• 


80.MT  CCF 

50o.ui        eo.fr.;      a 


WA.CT  S£ft 

•        V..JO.M 


MOTHER 

20,000  for  mother.  Do  what  you 
like/ 

"<Oh  well/  said  I,  delighted  at 
this  confidence,  'I  think  I  can  afford 
to  risk  what  you  are  willing  to  risk 
for  your  mother,  Mrs.  Beverly. 
Where  is  Petunia,  did  you  say?' 

"He  pulled  down  a  roller  map 
on  the  wall  as  you  draw  down  a 
window-blind,  and  again  I  listened 
to  statements  that  churned  in  my 
brain.  Petunia  was  a  new  resort 
on  the  sea-coast  of  New  Hampshire. 
One  railway  system  did  already 
connect  it  with  both  Portsmouth 
and  Portland,  but  it  was  not  a  very 
direct  connection  at  present.  Yet 
in  spite  of  this,  the  population  had 
increased  23  and  seven-tenths  per 
cent  in  five  years,  and  now  an  elec 
tric  railway  was  in  construction 
that  would  double  the  population 


4s  to.;.;i 


WA.CT          sen.          t*         »ic         r        « 

VI  4S.70.8J      «l»;.i     '000.119     4oo.«?i    SS.I.W7 


MOTHER 

in  the  next  five  years.  This  was 
less  than  what  had  happened  to 
other  neighbouring  resorts  under 
identical  conditions;  yet  with  things 
as  they  now  were,  the  company 
was  earning  two  per  cent  on  its 
stock,  which  was  being  put  into 
improvements.  The  stock  was  sell 
ing  at  30,  and  if  a  dividend  was 
paid  next  year,  it  would  go  to  par. 
But  Mr.  Beverly  did  not  counsel 
buying  the  stock.  '  I  did  not  let 
mother  have  any/  he  said,  '  though 
I  took  some  myself.  But  the  bonds 
are  different.  You're  getting  the 
last  that  will  be  sold  at  par.  In 
three  days  they  will  be  placed  be 
fore  the  public  at  io2*/£  and  in 
terest/ 

"I  was  well  pleased  when  I  left 
Mr.  Beverly's  office.  In  a  few  days 
I  was  still  more  pleased  to  learn  that 


400.IMM.MI 


IA,          *c          r 

400.47;  J 


MOTHER 

I  could  sell  my  Petunia  sixes  for 
104  if  I  so  wished.  But  I  did  not 
wish  it,  and  Mr.  Beverly  told  me 
that  he  should  not  sell  his  mother's 
unless  they  went  to  no.  'In  that 
case,'  said  he,  'it  might  be  worth 
while  to  capitalise  her  premium/ 
"I  liked  the  idea  of  capitalising 
one's  premium.  If  you  had  fifty 
bonds  that  cost  you  par,  and  sold 
them  at  1 1  o,  you  would  then  buy  at 
par  fifty-five  bonds  of  some  other 
rising  kind,  and  go  on  doing  this 
until — I  named  no  limit  for  this 
process;  but  my  delighted  mind 
saw  visions  of  eighty  and.  a  hundred 
thousand  a  year — comfort  at  least, 
if  not  affluence  in  New  York — 
and  I  explained  to  Ethel  what  the 
phrase  capitalising  one's  premium 
meant.  I  showed  her  the  Petunias, 
too,  and  we  read  what  it  said  on 


60.MT 

50o.ui        eo.fr. 


**.CT 


*  WC 

«o»C.iw    «oo.4»i 


MOTHER 

the  coupons  aloud  together.  Ethel 
was  at  first  not  quite  satisfied  with 
the  arrangement  of  the  coupons. 
*  Thirty  dollars  on  January  first,  and 
thirty  on  July  first/  she  said. 
*That  seems  a  long  while  to  wait 
for  those  payments,  Richard.  And 
there  are  only  two  in  every  year, 
though  you  pay  them  a  thousand 
dollars  all  at  once.  It  does  not 
seem  very  prompt  on  their  part.'  I 
told  her  that  this  was  the  rule. 
'  But,'  she  urged,  <  don't  you  think 
that  a  man  like  Mr.  Beverly  might 
be  able  to  get  them  to  make  an 
exception  if  he  explained  the  cir 
cumstances?  Other  people  may 
be  satisfied  with  waiting  for  little 
crumbs  in  this  way,  but  why  should 
we?'  I  soon  made  her  understand 
how  it  was,  however,  and  I  ex 
plained  many  other  facts  about 


cer     K.r 
9« 


MOTHER 

investments  and  the  stock  market 
to  her,  as  I  learned  them.  It  was 
a  great  pleasure  to  do  this.  We 
came  to  talk  about  finance  even 
more  than  we  talked  of  my  writ 
ings;  for  during  that  Spring  I  in 
vested  a  good  deal  more  rapidly 
than  I  wrote.  The  Petunias  had 
taken  only  one-twentieth  of  my 
million  dollars;  and  though  Mr. 
Beverly  warned  me  to  rush  hastily 
into  nothing,  and  pointed  out  the 
good  sense  of  distributing  my  eggs 
in  a  number  of  baskets,  still  we 
both  agreed  that  the  sooner  all  my 
money  was  bringing  me  five  or  six 
per  cent,  the  better. 
"  I  have  come  to  think  that  it 
might  be  well  were  women  taught 
the  elements  of  investing  as  they 
are  now  taught  French  and  Music. 
I  would  not  have  the  French  and 


fc»  60.MT  CCF 

y  soo.iii        eo.fr. i      a 


W».CT  SEft  tfc  WC  r 

46.t6.et     «•-,;•  J    looe.iw   *».«»»  ».'•»» 


MOTHER 

Music  dropped,  but  I  would  add 
the  other.  It  might  be  more  of  a 
protection  to  women  than  being 
able  to  read  a  French  novel,  and 
perhaps  some  day  we  shall  have  it 
so.  But  of  course  it  had  been  left 
totally  out  of  Ethel's  education ;  and 
at  first  she  merely  received  my  in 
struction  and  took  my  opinions.  It 
was  not  long,  however,  before  she 
began  to  entertain  some  of  her  own, 
obliging  me  not  infrequently  to 
reason  with  her.  I  very  well  re 
member  the  first  occasion  that  this 
happened. 

"We  had  been  as  usual  talking 
about  stocks,  as  we  walked  on  the 
Riverside  Drive  on  a  Sunday  .after 
noon  in  May.  Ethel  had  been  for 
some  moments  silent.  '  Richard/  she 
finally  began,  'if  I  had  had  the 
naming  of  these  things^  I  should 


wtJT 


•OO..OOM.U, 


•-«  V  „ 

I     60  j 

<»s  fco.;.'V  /    500.111 

_fti  j* 


60.fr. 


MOTHER 

never  have  called  them  securities. 
Insecurities  comes  a  great  deal 
nearer  what  they  are.  What  right 
has  a  thing  that  says  on  its  face  it 
is  worth  a  thousand  dollars  to  go 
bobbing  up  and  down  in  the  way 
most  of  them  do  ?  I  think  that 
securities  is  almost  sarcastic.  And 
have  you  noticed  the  price  of  those 
Petunias  ? ' 

"  I  had,  of  course,  noticed  it ;  but 
I  had  not  mentioned  it  to  Ethel 
*I  read  the  papers  now/  she  ex 
plained,  '  morning  and  evening.  Of 
course  the  market  is  off  a  little  on 
account  of  the  bank  statement.  But 
that  is  not  enough  to  account  for 
the  Petunias.' 

"'Ethel,  you  are  nervous/  I 
said.  '  And  it  is  the  papers  which 
make  you  so.  The  Petunias  are 
a  first  lien  on  the  whole  prop- 


4  oo. loo;.;,  i.i 


4s  to.;.;, 


MOTHER 

erty,    of  which  the  assessed   valu 
ation — ' 

What  is  the  good/  she  inter 
rupted,  '  of  a  first  lien  on  something 
which  depends  on  politics  for  its 
existence,  if  the  politicians  change 
their  minds?  Did  you  not  see  that 
bill  they're  thinking  of  passing?' 
"I  was  startled  by  what  Ethel 
told  me,  for  the  article  in  the  paper 
had  escaped  my  notice.  But  Mr. 
Beverly  explained  it  to  me  in  a 
couple  of  minutes.  'Ha!'  he  jovially 
exclaimed,  on  my  entering  his  office 
on  Monday  morning;  'you  want 
to  know  about  Petunias.  They 
opened  at  85  I  see/  He  then  ran 
the  tape  from  the  ticker  through 
his  clean  strong  hands.  'Here 
they  are  again.  Five  thousand  sold 
at  83.  Now,  if  they  go  to  70,  I'll 
very  likely  take  ten  thousand  more 

-v- 

62 


Stree 


MOTHER 

for  mother.  It's  all  Frank  Smith's 
bluff,  you  know.  He  wants  a  jag 
of  the  water- works  stock,  more  than 
they  say  they  agreed  he  should  have. 
So  he's  shaking  this  bill  over  them, 
which  would  allow  the  city  to 
build  its  own  water-plant,  and  of 
course  run  the  present  company  out 
of  business.  Not  a  thing  in  it !  All 
bluff.  He'll  get  the  stock,  I  suppose. 
What's  that?'  he  broke  off  to  a 
clerk  who  came  with  a  message. 
'Wants  500  preferred  does  he? 
Buyer  30  ?  Very  well,  he  can't  have 
it.  Say  so  from  me.  Now,'  he 
resumed  to  me,  *  take  a  cigar  by  the 
way.  And  don't  buy  any  more 
Petunias  until  I  tell  you  the  right 
moment.  Do  you  see  where  your 
Amalgamated  Electric  has  gone  to  ?' 
"I  had  seen  this.  It  had  scored 
a  20-point  rise  since  my  purchase 


400.100}. J.i.i 


45  M.I.V 


ee.fr. 


MOTHER 

of  it ;  and  I  felt  very  sorry  that  I 
had  not  taken  Mr.  Beverly's  advice 
and  bought  a  thousand  shares.  It 
had  been  on  a  day  when  I  had  felt 
unaccountably  cautious,  and  I  had 
taken  only  two  hundred  and  fifty 
shares  of  Amalgamated  Electric. 
There  are  days  when  one  is  cautious 
and  days  when  one  is  venturesome ; 
and  they  seem  to  have  nothing  to 
do  with  results. 

"<  They're  going  to  increase  the 
dividend/  said  Mr.  Beverly,  as  I 
smoked  his  excellent  cigar.  'It's 
good  for  twenty  points  higher  by 
the  end  of  the  week.  I  had  just 
got  mother  a  few  more  shares/ 

"I  left  Mr.  Beverly's  office  the 
possessor  of  two  thousand  shares  of 
Amalgamated  Electric,  and  also  en 
tirely  reassured  about  my  Petunias. 
He  always  made  me  feel  happy. 


400. loo}.}. 


; PO^ — 

4s  to.;.  V  66  y  5QQ.III 

••   in      '"^t^.       .^P^*^™***^"1"* 


BO.MT  ccr     K.f 

eo.fr. v      9C      • 


MOTHER 

His  keen  laughing  brown  eyes, 
and  crisp  well-brushed  hair,  and 
big  somewhat  English  way  of  chaf 
fing  (he  had  gone  to  Oxford,  where 
he  had  rowed  on  a  winning  crew) 
carried  a  sense  of  buoyant  prosperity 
that  went  with  his  wiry  figure  and 
good  smart  London  clothes.  His 
face  was  almost  as  tawny  as  an 
Indian's  with  the  outdoor  life  that 
he  took  care  to  lead.  I  was  always 
flattered  when  he  could  spare  any 
time  to  clap  me  on  the  shoulder 
and  crack  a  joke. 

"Amalgamated  Electric  had  risen 
five  more  points  before  the  board 
closed  that  afternoon.  This  was 
the  first  news  that  I  told  Ethel. 

" '  Richard/  said  she,  *  I  wish  you 
would  sell  that  stock  to-morrow/ 

"  But  this  I  saw  no  reason  for  ;  and 
Tuesday  it  had  gained  seven 


L/Tj-     FC  eo.MT  CCF     i£.r 

"?/   SOO.IM       eo.fc.;      96     n>^ 


we         r 

«oe.«7l    5S.I.W 


MOTHER 

points  further.  Ethel  still  more 
strongly  urged  me  to  sell  it.  I  must 
freely  admit  that."  And  the  nar 
rator  paused  reflectively. 

"Thank  you,  Richard/'  said  Ethel 
from  the  sofa.  "  And  I  admit  that 
I  could  give  you  no  reason  for  my 
request,  except  that  it  all  seemed  so 
sudden.  And — yes — there  was  one 
other  thing.  But  that  was  even 
more  silly. " 

"  I  believe  I  know  what  you 
mean,"  replied  Richard,  "and  I 
shall  come  to  it  presently.  If  any 
one  was  silly,  it  was  not  you. 

"  I  did  not  sell  Amalgamated  Elec 
tric  on  Wednesday,  and  on  Thurs 
day  a  doubt  about  the  increased 
dividend  began  to  be  circulated. 
The  stock,  nevertheless,  after  a  fore 
noon  of  weakness,  rallied.  More 
over,  a  check  for  my  first  dividend 


«oo.ieo|.J.u. 


4s  to.;. 


•«•»     lo»0.ii»    4oe.«»l   Ss.i.wi 


MOTHER 

came  from  the  Pollyopolis  Heat, 
Light,  Power,  Paving,  Pressing, 
and  Packing  Company. 

"'What  a  number  of  things  it 
does!'  exclaimed  Ethel,  when  I 
showed  her  the  company's  check. 

"'Yes/  I  replied,  and  quoted 
Browning  to  her:  'Twenty-nine 
distinct  damnations.  One  sure  if 
the  other  fails/  Beverly's  mother 
has  a  lot  of  it/ 

"  But  Ethel  did  not  smile.  '  Rich 
ard,'  she  said,  'I  do  wish  you  had 
more  investments  with  ordinary  sim 
ple  names,  like  New  York  and  New 
Haven,  or  Chicago  and  Northwest 
ern/  And  when  I  told  her  that  I 
thought  this  was  really  unreason 
able,  she  was  firm.  *  Yes,'  she  re 
plied,  *  I  don't  like  the  names — not 
most  of  them,  at  least.  Dutchess 
and  Columbia  Traction  sounds 


4oo. IOQ  J.J.I.. 


L  f      fa 

«»  «.;.!,V  "y 


W*-CT  SEft  (A  PIC 

4S.J0.62       «J\vJ     loeo.iw     4 


MOTHER 

pretty  well;  and  besides  that,  of 
course  one  knows  how  successful 
these  electric  railways  are.  But 
take  the  Standard  Egg  Trust,  and 
the  Patent  Pasteurised  Infant  Rub 
ber  Feeder  Company/ 

"< Why, Ethel!'  I  exclaimed,  'those 
are  both  based  upon  great  inven 
tions,  Mr.  Beverly— 

"  But  she  interrupted  me  earnestly. 
'  I  know  about  those  inventions, 
Richard,  for  I  have  procured  the 
prospectuses.  And  I  wish  that  I 
could  have  told  you  my  own  feeling 
about  them  before  you  bought  any 
of  the  stock/ 

"'I  do  not  think  you  can  fully 
have  taken  it  in,  Ethel.' 

"'I  trust  that  it  may  not  have 
fully  taken  you  in,'  she  replied. 
'  Have  you  noticed  what  those 
stocks  are  selling  for  at  present?' 


ccr     re.r 

06       n»l'» 


MOTHER 

"  Of  course  I  had  noticed  this.  I 
had  paid  63  for  Standard  Egg,  and 
it  was  now  48,  while  1 1  was  the 
price  of  Patent  Pasteurized  Feeder, 
for  which  I  had  paid  20.  But  this, 
Mr.  Beverly  assured  me,  was  a  nor 
mal  and  even  healthy  course  for  a 
new  stock.  *  Had  they  gone  up  too 
soon  and  too  high/  he  explained,  *I 
should  have  suspected  some  crooked 
manipulation  and  advised  selling 
at  once.  But  this  indicates  a  healthy 
absorption  preliminary  to  a  natural 
rise.  I  should  not  dream  of  letting 
mother  part  with  hers/ 

"The  basis  of  Standard  Egg  was 
not  only  a  monopoly  of  all  the  hens 
in  the  United  States,  but  a  machine 
called  a  Separator,  for  telling  the 
age  and  state  of  an  egg  by  means 
of  immersion  in  water.  Perfectly 
good  eggs  sank  fast  and  passed  out 


4s  to.;.; 


MOTHER 

through  one  distributer ;  fairly  nice 
eggs  did  not  reach  the  bottom,  and 
were  drawn  off  through  another 
sluice,  and  so  on.  This  saved  the 
wages  of  the  egg  twirlers,  whose 
method  of  candling  eggs,  as  it  was 
called,  was  far  less  rapid  than  the 
Separator.  And  when  I  learned  that 
one  house  in  St.  Louis  alone  twirled 
50,000  eggs  in  a  day,  the  possible 
profits  of  the  Egg  Trust  became 
clear  to  me.  But  they  were  not  so 
clear  to  Ethel.  She  said  that  you 
could  not  monopolise  hens.  That 
they  would  always  be  laying  eggs 
and  putting  it  in  the  power  of  com 
petitors  to  hatch  them  by  incuba 
tors.  Nor  did  she  have  confidence 
in  the  Pasteurised  Feeder.  '  Even 
if  you  get  the  parents  to  adopt  it/ 
she  said,  '  you  cannot  get  the  chil 
dren.  If  they  do  not  like  the  taste 


i    <72       R         "eoiJir CCP     rc.r 
*°'>*V         y    5QQ.ni         eo.fr. !.       9C      n»fc 


MOTHER 

of  the  milk  as  it  comes  out  of  the 
bottle  through  the  Feeder,  they 
will  simply  not  take  it.' 

"'Well/  I  answered,  'old  Mrs. 
Beverly  is  holding  on  to  hers/ 

"When  I  said  this,  Ethel  sat 
with  her  mouth  tight.  Then  she 
opened  it  and  said:  *I  hate  that 
woman/ 

"  *  Hate  her  ?  Why  you  have  never 
so  much  as  laid  eyes  on  her/ 

"  *  That  is  not  at  all  necessary.  I 
consider  it  indecent  for  a  grey, 
haired  woman  with  grandchildren 
to  be  speculating  in  the  stock 
market  every  week  like  a  regular 
bull  or  bear/ 

"Every  point  in  this  outburst  of 
Ethel's  seemed  to  me  so  unwarrant 
able  that  I  was  quite  dazed.  I  sat 
looking  at  her,  and  her  eyes  filled 
with  tears.  'Oh  Richard!'  she  ex- 


40o.iooJ.». 


4s  wo.;. 


BO.MT  ccr      i 

i        eo.fr. •„       »6 


V*          4S.J.  81 


4oe.<»i 


MOTHER 

claimed,  'she  will  ruin  you,  and  I 
hate  her!' 

dear  Ethel,'  I  replied,  'she 
will  not.  And  only  see  how  you 
are  making  it  all  up  out  of  your 
head.  You  have  never  seen  her, 
but  you  speak  of  her  as  a  grey- 
haired  grandmother.' 
" '  She  must  be,  Richard.  You  have 
told  me  that  Mr.  Beverly  is  a  mar 
ried  man  and  about  forty-five.  No 
doubt  he  has  older  sisters  and 
brothers.  But  if  he  has  not,  his 
mother  can  hardly  be  less  than  sixty- 
five,  and  he  has  probably  been  mar 
ried  for  several  years.  He  might 
easily  have  a  daughter  coming  out, 
next  winter,  and  a  son  at  Harvard 
or  Yale ;  and  if  their  grandmother's 
hair  is  not  grey,  that  is  quite  as 
unnatural  as  her  speculating  in 
monopolised  eggs  in  this  way  at 


eo.nT  ccr     rc.P 

>-k.V       *      "»i'lL-3w*< 


*"«*•         ' 


MOTHER 

her  age.  She  must  be  a  very  un 
ladylike  person/ 

"  Ethel,  I  saw,  was  excited.  There 
fore  I  made  no  more  point  of  her 
theories  concerning  the  appearance 
and  family  circle  of  old  Mrs.  Bev 
erly.  But  in  justice  to  myself  I  felt 
obliged  to  remind  her,  first,  that  I 
was  investing,  not  speculating,  and 
second,  that  it  was  Mr.  Beverly's 
advice  I  was  following,  and  not 
that  of  his  mother.  '  Had  he  not 
spoken  of  her/  I  said,  <I  should 
have  remained  unaware  of  her  ex 
istence/ 

"'She  is  at  the  bottom  of  it  all 
the  same/  said  Ethel.  '  Everything 
you  have  bought  has  been  because 
she  bought  it/ 

"'That  is  not  quite  the  right  way 
to  put  it/  I  replied.  '  I  was  willing 
^T»TV  to  buy  these  securities  because  Mr. 


4oo.iooj.;...i 


WA.CT  siB.  s*.  nc  r          **w»,  ^ 

V'«  45.SO.8J       Mj.;.»     looo.ixs     4<x>.47i    SS.I.WT          u?i 


MOTHER 

Beverly  thought  so  highly  of  them 
that  he  felt  justified  in — ' 
"'There  is  no  use,'  interrupted 
Ethel,  'in  our  going  round  this 
circle  as  if  we  were  a  pair  of  squir 
rels.  I  do  not  ask  you  to  hate  that 
woman  for  my  sake,  but  I  cannot 
change  my  own  feeling.  Do  you 
remember,  Richard,  about  the  City 
of  Philippi  Sewer  Bonds  ?  You  did 
not  want  to  buy  them  at  first.  You 
told  me  yourself  that  you  thought 
new  towns  in  Texas  were  apt  to 
buzz  suddenly  and  then  die  because 
all  the  people  hurried  away  to 
some  newer  town  and  left  the 
houses  and  stores  standing  empty. 
But  Mr.  Beverly's  mother  got 
some,  and  all  your  hesitation  fled. 
And  now  I  see  that  the  Gulf, 
Galveston,  and  Little  Rock  is  going 
to  build  a  branch  that  may  make 


400.100}.;. 


L 


s~  v^-, 

stfmes  cOtw^BtverKupon tfanv  (p 


\  :    i 
:     ' 


WA.CT  MR. 

45.JO.tt      t 


MOTHER 

Philippi  a  perfectly  evaporated 
town.  If  you  sold  these  bonds 
to-day,  how  much  would  you  lose  ?' 
did  not  enjoy  telling  Ethel  how 
much,  but  I  had  to.  'Only  fifteen 
thousand  dollars/  I  said. 

-'Only!1  said  Ethel.  'Well,  I 
hope  his  mother  will  lose  a  great 
deal  more  than  that/ 

"It  is  seldom  that  Ethel  taps  her 
foot,  but  she  had  begun  to  tap  it 
now ;  and  this  inclined  me  to  avoid 
any  attempt  at  a  soothing  reply,  in 
the  hope  that  silence  might  prove 
still  more  soothing,  and  that  thus 
we  might  get  away  from  old  Mrs. 
Beverly. 

"'She  cannot  possibly  be  less 
than  sixty-five/  Ethel  presently 
announced.  'And  she  is  far  more 
likely  to  be  seventy.' 

I  thought  it  best  to  agree  to  any 


4oo.iooj.;.i.i 


4S  to.; 


— f  V  — • 

i       *7O     r*  BO.MT  CCF     K.P 

.',.X    /"Y    5CQ.IH          «o.>.^        96       115^- 


MOTHER 

age  that  Ethel  chose  to  give  the 
old  lady. 

"'Do  you  suppose/  Ethel  con 
tinued,  'that  she  does  it  by  tele 
phone?' 

"'My  dearest/  I  responded,  'he 
must  do  it  all  for  her,  of  course, 
you  know.' 

" '  I  doubt  that  very  much,  Rich 
ard.  And  she  strikes  me  as  being 
the  sort  of  character  for  whom 
a  mere  telephone  would  not  be 
enough  excitement.  The  nerves 
of  those  people  require  more  and 
more  stimulants  to  give  them  any 
sensation  at  all.  I  believe  that  she 
sits  in  his  private  office  and  watches 
the  ticker.' 

'"Why  not  give  her  a  ticker  in 
her  bedroom  while  you  are  about 
it,  Ethel?'  I  suggested. 

"But  Ethel  could  not  smile. 


i 


,;-i       ICOO.IM      «00.47;     »».'.«T  '!'i      ' 


MOTHER 

think  that  is  perfectly  probable,' 
she  answered.  And  then,  'Oh, 
Richard,  isn't  it  mean  !  '  At  this 
I  took  her  hand,  and  she —  but 
again  I  abstain  from  dwelling  upon 
those  circumstances  of  the  engaged 
which  are  familiar  to  you  all. 
"The  change  of  May  into  June, 
and  the  change  of  June  into  July, 
did  not  mellow  Ethel's  bitter  feel 
ings.  I  remember  the  day  after 
Petunias  defaulted  on  their  interest^ 
that  she  exclaimed,  '  I  hope  I  shall 
never  meet  her !'  We  always  called 
Mr.  Beverly's  mother  'she'  now. 
*  For  if  I  were  to  meet  her,'  con 
tinued  Ethel,  *  I  feel  I  should  say 
something  that  I  should  regret. 
Oh,  Richard,  I  suppose  we  shall 
have  to  give  up  that  house  on  Park 
Avenue ! ' 

I  put  a  cheerful  and  even  jocular 


8l 

"* 


MOTHER 

face  on  the  matter,  for  I  could  not 
bear  to  see  Ethel  so  depressed.  .  But 
it  was  hard  work  for  me.  Some 
few  of  my  investments  were  evi 
dently  good;  but  it  always  seemed 
as  if  it  was  into  these  that  I  had 
happened  to  put  not  much  money, 
while  the  bulk  of  my  fortune  was 
entangled  in  the  others.  Besides 
the  usual  Midsummer  faintness 
that  overtakes  the  stock  market, 
my  own  specialties  were  a  good 
deal  more  than  faint.  On  the  aoth 
of  August  I  took  the  afternoon 
train  to  spend  my  two  weeks'  holi 
day  at  Lenox;  and  during  much  of 
the  journey  I  gazed  at  the  Wall 
Street  edition  of  the  afternoon 
paper  that  I  had  purchased  as  I 
came  through  the  Grand  Central 
Station.  Ethel  and  I  read  it  in 
the  evening. 


j^A     82    J     gOO 


BO.MT  CCF       K.f 

,          eo.  fc.i,        9C       11*4 


WA.CT  MB- 

«. J0.lt 


MOTHER 

wonder    what    she's    buying 
said  Ethel,  vindictively. 
'Well,  I  can't  help  feeling  sorry 
for  her/  I  answered,  with  as  much 
of  a  smile  as  I  could  produce. 

'"That  is  so  unnecessary,  Richard ! 
She  can  easily  afford  to  gratify  her 
gambling  instinct/ 

"'There  you  go,  Ethel,  inventing 
millions  for  her  just  as  you  invented 
grandchildren/ 

"'Not  at  all.  Unless  she  con 
stantly  had  money  lying  idle,  she 
could  not  take  these  continual 
plunges.  She  is  an  old  woman  with 
few  expenses,  and  she  lives  well 
within  her  income.  You  would 
hear  of  her  entertaining  if  it  was 
otherwise.  So  instead  of  conserva 
tively  investing  her  surplus,  she 
makes  ducks  and  drakes  of  it  in  her 
son's  office.  Is  he  at  Hyde  Park 


4  00. ICQ}.;. 1. 1 


ccf     it.r 

i   *  »»ii£*£ 


400.47}     SS.I.W 


MOTHER 

now?'  Hyde  Park  was  where  the 
old  Beverly  country  seat  had  always 
been. 

"'No,'  I  answered.  '  He  went  to 
Europe  early  last  month.' 

"'Very  likely  he  took  her  with 
him.  She  is  probably  at  Monte 
Carlo.' 

"'Scarcely  in  August,  I  fancy. 
And  I'll  tell  you  what,  Ethel.  I 
have  been  counting  it  up.  She  has 
lost  twenty-four  thousand  dollars  in 
the  Standard  Egg  alone.  It  takes  a 
good  deal  of  surplus  to  stand  that.' 

"'Serve  her  right,'  said  Ethel. 
'And  I  would  say  so  to  her  face.' 

"  September  brought  freshness  to 
the  stock  market  but  not  to  me. 
Mr.  Beverly,  like  the  well-to-do 
man  that  he  was,  remained  away  in 
Europe  until  October  should  re 
quire  his  presence  as  a  guiding 


:n^4/vz 


ccr     rt.r 
,        9G 


MOTHER 

hand  in  the  office.  Thus  was  I 
left  without  his  buoyant  consolation 
in  the  face  of  my  investments. 

Petunias  were  being  adjusted  on 
a  four  per  cent  basis ;  Dutchess  and 
Columbia  Traction  was  holding  its 
own;  I  could  not  complain  of 
Amalgamated  Electric,  though  it 
was  now  lower  than  when  I  had 
bought  it,  while  had  I  sold  it  on 
that  Wednesday  in  May  when 
Ethel  begged  me,  before  the  in 
creased  dividend  turned  out  a  mis 
take,  I  should  have  made  money. 
But  Philippi  Sewers  were  threat 
ened  ;  Pasteurised  Feeders  had  been 
numb  since  June ;  Pollyopolis  Heat, 
Light,  Power,  Paving,  Pressing, 
and  Packing  was  going  to  pass  its 
quarterly  dividend ;  and  Standard 
Egg  had  gone  down  from  63  to 
My  million  dollars  on  paper 


*E  C- 

.toe5.',...,  4s  «>o.;A  °5 


*      •      r>V  f 

toco.iw    400.47;    Ss.i.ior 


MOTHER 

now  was  worth  in  reality  less  than 
a  quarter  of  that  sum,  and  although 
we  could  still  make  both  ends  meet 
fairly  well  in  some  place  where 
you  wouldn't  want  to  live,  like 
Philadelphia,  in  New  York  we 
should  drop  into  a  pinched  and 
dwarfed  obscurity. 
"  I  must  say  now,  and  I  shall  never 
forget,  that  Ethel  during  these 
gloomy  weeks  behaved  much  better 
than  I  did.  The  greyer  the  out 
look  became,  the  more  words  of 
hope  and  sense  she  seemed  to  find. 
She  reminded  me  that,  after  all, 
my  Uncle  Godfrey's  legacy  had 
been  a  thing  unlocked  for,  some 
thing  out  of  my  scheme  of  life; 
that  I  had  my  youth,  my  salary, 
and  my  writing;  and  that  she 
would  wait  till  she  was  as  old  as 
Mr.  Beverly's  mother. 


400. loo}. ',.10 


4s  «.o.;. 


MOTHER 

It  was  the  thought  of  that  lady 
which  brought  from  Ethel  the  only 
note  of  complaint  she  uttered  in 
my  presence  during  that  whole 
dreary  month. 

"We  were  spending  Sunday  with 
a  house  party  at  Hyde  Park;  and 
driving  to  church,  we  passed  an 
avenue  gate  with  a  lodge.  '  Rock- 
hurst,  sir/  said  the  coachman. 
*  Whose  place?'  I  inquired.  'The 
old  Beverly  place,  sir/  Ethel  heard 
him  tell  me  this;  and  as  we  went 
on,  we  saw  a  carriage  and  pair 
coming  down  the  avenue  toward 
the  gate  with  that  look  which 
horses  always  seem  to  have  when 
they  are  taking  the  family  to  church 
on  Sunday  morning. 

'"If  I  see  her/  said  Ethel  to  me 
as  we  entered  the  door,  '  I  shall  be 
unable  to  say  my  prayers/ 


4S   WO.', 


Lg/7        fci  60.HT 

'  J  ><>«>•"'     »°-»-i    *    "*i 


MOTHER 

"But  only  young  people  came  into 
the  Beverly  pew,  and  Ethel  said 
her  prayers  and  also  sang  the  hymns 
and  chants  very  sweetly. 

"After  the  service,  we  strolled 
together  in  the  old  and  lovely  grave 
yard  before  starting  homeward. 
We  had  told  them  that  we  should 
prefer  to  walk  back.  The  day  was 
beautiful,  and  one  could  see  a  little 
blue  piece  of  the  river,  sparkling. 

"'Here  is  where  they  are  all 
buried,'  said  Ethel,  and  we  paused 
before  brown  old  headstones  with 
Beverly  upon  them.  'Died  1750; 
died  1767,'  continued  Ethel,  read 
ing  the  names  and  inscriptions.  '  I 
think  one  doesn't  mind  the  idea  of 
lying  in  such  a  place  as  this/ 

"  Some  of  the  young  people  in  the 
pew  now  came  along  the  path. 
'The  grandchildren,'  said  Ethel. 


V.*. 

40Q.IM|.}.I*I 


n  rcm<35e  tope/ron?  itje  ticKer  t/jroogff 
nis  clean  atroiig  .panaj  "  (p. 


MOTHER 

'  She  is  probably  too  old  to  come 
to  church.  Or  she  is  in  Europe/ 
The  young  people  had  brought 
a  basket  with  flowers  from  their 
place,  and  now  laid  them  over 
several  of  the  grassy  mounds.  '  Give 
me  some  of  yours/  said  one  to  the 
other,  presently;  'I've  not  enough 
for  grandmother's/ 

"  Ethel  took  me  rather  sharply  by 
the  arm.  '  Did  you  hear  that  ?'  she 
asked. 

"  *  It  can't  be  she,  you  know/  said 
I.  'He  would  have  come  back 
from  Europe/ 

"But  we  found  it  out  at  lunch. 
It  was  she,  and  she  had  been  dead 
for  fifteen  years. 

"  Ethel  and  I  talked  it  over  in  the 
train  going  up  to  town  on  Monday 
morning.  We  had  by  that  time 
grown  calmer.  *  If  it  is  not  false 


\  91  r 

4s  fco.;.;V    '       /500.IH 


MOTHER 

pretences/  said  she,  'and  you  can 
not  sue  him  for  damages,  and  if  it 
is  not  stealing  or  something,  and 
you  cannot  put  him  in  prison, 
what  are  you  going  to  do  to  him, 
Richard?' 

"As  this  was  a  question  which  I 
had  frequently  asked  myself  during 
the  night,  having  found  no  satisfac 
tory  answer  to  it,  I  said :  '  What 
would  you  do  in  my  place,  Ethel?* 
But  Ethel  knew. 

'"I  should  find  out  when  he  sails, 
and  meet  his  steamer  with  a  cow 
hide/ 

"'Then  he  would  sue  me  for 
damages.' 

"'That  would  be  nothing,  if  you 
got  a  few  good  cuts  in  on  him/ 

"'Ethel/  I  said,  'please  follow  me 
carefully.  I  should  like  dearly  to 
cowhide  him,  and  for  the  sake  of 


*Ky£ 


eo.fr. V 


MOTHER 

argument  we  will  consider  it  done. 
Then  comes  the  lawsuit.  Then  I 
get  up  and  say  that  I  beat  him 
because  he  made  me  buy  Standard 
Egg  at  63  by  telling  me  that  his 
mother  had  some,  when  really  the 
old  lady  had  been  dead  for  fifteen 
years.  When  I  think  of  it  in  this 
way,  I  do  not  feel — ' 

"'I  know/  interrupted  Ethel, 
'you  are  afraid  of  ridicule.  All  men 
are/ 

"Had  Ethel  insisted,  I  believe  that 
I  should  have  cowhided  Mr.  Bev 
erly  for  her  sake.  But  before  his 
return  our  destinies  were  bright 
ened.  Copper  had  been  found  near 
Ethel's  waste  lands  in  Michigan, 
and  the  family  business  man  was 
able  to  sell  the  property  for  seven 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  He  did 
this  so  promptly  that  I  ventured  to 


to.;.; 


*A.CT  sen.          i*. 

4S.SO.tt      »*»»;•;     lo 


MOTHER 

ask  him  if  delay  might  not  have 
brought  a  greater  price.  'Well/ 
he  said,  *  I  don't  know.  You  must 
seize  these  things.  Blake  and  Bev 
erly  might  have  got  tired  waiting/ 

"'Blake  and  Beverly  I'  I  exclaimed. 
'So  they  made  the  purchase.  Is 
Mr.  Beverly  back?' 

"'Just  back.  To  tell  the  truth  I 
don't  believe  they're  finding  so 
much  copper  as  they  hoped.' 

"  This  turned  out  to  be  true.  And 
I  am  not  sure  that  the  business 
man  had  not  known  it  all  the 
while.  'We  looked  over  the  prop 
erty  pretty  thoroughly  at  the  time  of 
the  Tamarack  excitement,'  he  said. 
And  in  a  few  days  more,  in  fact,  it 
was  generally  known  that  this  land 
had  returned  to  its  old  state  of  not 
quite  paying  the  taxes. 

"Then  I  paid  my    visit    to    Mr. 


±3s?4J- 


IT  CCF     rc.r 

*o.V.l       9«       I 


MOTHER 

Beverly,  but  with  no  cowhide. 
<Mr.  Beverly/  said  I,  'I  want  to 
announce  to  you  my  engagement 
to  Miss  Ethel  Lansing,  whose 
Michigan  copper  land  you  have 
lately  acquired.  I  hope  that  you 
bought  some  for  your  mother.5 

"Those/5  concluded  Mr.  Richard 
Field,  "are  the  circumstances  at 
tending  my  engagement  which  I 
felt  might  interest  you.  And  now, 
Ethel,  tell  your  story,  if  they'll 
listen." 

"Richard/5  said  Ethel,  "that  is 
the  story  I  was  going  to  tell.55 


SOO.IM        eo.fr. 


•^vi     ..  .\> 

v">--.:  C. 


*': 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORR 

LOAN  DEPT, 


_ 

MAR  2  8  1972  3  5 


m  es'72  - 


•<&• 


•& 
•11 


LD2lA-40m-8,'71 
(P6572slO)476-A-32 


General  Library 

University  of  Calif  orniJ 

Berkeley 


\     :rt 


\ 


4 


-V 


p»SWUa 


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